Murrah milk drives Haryana’s white revolution

Chandigarh, Aug 22 (IANS) With dairy farming picking up in the state, and with the rising popularity of the Murrah breed of buffaloes, milk production in Haryana has gone up by over 14 lakh tonnes, the state’s animal husbandry and dairy farming department said.

“The total annual milk production in Haryana has increased from 52.59 lakh tonnes in 2010-11 to 66.61 lakh tonnes in 2011-12,” a spokesman of the department said here Wednesday.

“The per capita per day availability of milk in the state has shot up to 708 grams as against the national average of just 262 grams,” he said.

Haryana is famous for its high milk yielding Murrah breed of buffaloes. Various schemes initiated by the state government have enabled farmers to take to dairy farming in recent years.

Under a scheme to promote the Murrah breed, farmers are being provided an attractive cash incentive ranging from Rs.5,000 to Rs.25,000 on the basis of average daily peak milk yield.

“A total of 53,415 buffaloes were identified for grant of the incentive during last seven years and Rs.26.85 crore was distributed. This popular scheme resulted in the procurement and conservation of good quality Murrah germ-plasm,” he said.

Under another scheme launched in 2009, the department has helped set up 558 hi-tech and 19,615 mini dairy units to provide self-employment to unemployed youth in Haryana.